Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/872564
VOL. 54 ISSUE 36 SEPTEMBER 12, 2017 P91 My Own Race: 6 BRAD BAKER 2ND AFT TWINS "On the last two restarts I was able to get a really good launch off the line and get past Briar. I kind of regrouped my thoughts and stuff from the mistakes I was making before the first restart," said Baker. "I was able to kind of get a rhythm together and roll with Jared again. I matched his pace earlier on in the semi. I figured that I would be able to do that again in the main. I figured I would try to wait for a mistake and capitalize on it. Jared was really slowing down at the end. When you are in the lead on a track like this and you've got that much at stake, you get protective. He was putting it on cruise control and making sure that he wasn't going to make a mistake. He was just basically protecting what he had. Hats off to him. He kind of had to do that. If he would have went in just a little too hard, which is easy to do, go in too fast and blow the groove, he could have gave away the win to me and possibly not clinched the championship today. He is a really, really smart rider and really smooth and consistent. Especially on tracks like this, you have to have that." 14 BRIAR BAUMAN 3RD AFT TWINS "My initial jump on the last restart wasn't very good. I spun the rear tire up real bad," said Briar Bauman. "Basically, I just spun the tire and lost my momentum. Brad was on a wet spot and was able to get out around me. I actually got shuffled back to about fifth right off the bat, through three and four. I just cut her down and got a good run, I was able to shove my way back up to third. When I look back on the first red flag, I had a pretty good gap on Brad. I was actually catching Jared a little bit, too. Being able to do anything with him was going to be tough. If you did pass someone it was because you were moving them. Brad got off the groove a little bit down in three and four. I rolled underneath him. It wasn't me doing any- thing special. He just happened to bobble a little bit and I was able to capitalize." 5 JAKE JOHNSON 4TH AFT TWINS "There was dust flying, everybody was running up underneath the groove. I didn't see half of the race," said Jake Johnson. "Early on the track felt pretty good. They put some water on it and kind of swept it. I actually made some passes around the outside. It felt good to kind of pick a couple guys off. In the middle of the race it kind of went stale for me. I was right there with Brandon and Kenny. Nothing was really happening. That red came out and I got a killer re- start, I got up into fourth. I was feeling good and there was just red after red after red. On the last restart I actually got up underneath Briar going into one and was in third. Those top three had a little bit better pace. Briar got back by me going into three." Johnson's race almost didn't end so well as he was somewhat involved in the second red flag. "I felt something when Bryan went underneath me. I almost thought I got off the groove a little bit. It was so dusty down there, it was hard to see. Sometimes guys would drag dust in front of you and you would hit it and kind of bust sideways. I kind of got to the middle of the corner and the thing just went way sideways on me. The red came out, then I saw Bryan was down. From where I was starting, I figured my plan was to just stay on the groove the whole race. No matter how fast I went or how slow I went, I wanted to stay on the groove the whole race. That's kind of what we did. I got a couple gifts with the restarts and was able to get up in there." 69 SAMMY HALBERT 5TH AFT TWINS "It was definitely a tough race for me today. We were a little bit off the pace early with the Yamaha," said Sammy Halbert. "Once the groove came in we got a little better. I was able to pick my way up to a top-five finish. We'll take it and learn from it and move on. On the first start I followed Coolbeth for a while and then got around him. On the first restart I made a big mistake and dropped back some spots. On the next couple restarts I picked up some spots. All in all I'll take the top five."